by Jill Sanders
Rafe listened with half an ear as they were led to a table outside. As if he’d blow money on fancy clothes. All his money was spoken for as it was and anything “extra” was carefully saved. Scrubs were good enough for the hospital, jeans and T-shirts were acceptable as a grad assistant, and clothes were barely required at Sunset Strip.
A couple at the table near theirs caught his eye and he blinked, then laughed inwardly at the vagaries of fate.
Emily was there having lunch, with her father by the looks of it. The pair had matching eyes—a deep coffee color that was warm and kind.
Whoa. Where had that thought come from?
He caught her staring at him, fork paused halfway to her lips, her mouth opened further. Her ivory skin had gone a shade paler as their eyes locked.
He couldn’t help it. He winked. Her eyes were round saucers now, darting between him and Karla.
Oh, yeah. Karla. He’d nearly forgotten the woman.
Of course, he had to pull out Karla’s chair and wait as she settled herself, tossing her hair over her shoulder and crossing her long legs. Rafe had the odd thought that he’d seen better legs recently, and they were currently a few tables away from him.
He slid on his mirrored shades as he rounded to his chair and sat down. With his sunglasses on, he could watch Emily without her knowing, and he positioned himself so it would seem as though he was looking at Karla instead.
Emily had recovered from her surprise and was talking quietly with her father. But he noticed that she kept shooting glances in his direction, furtive looks that made the corner of his lip lift in a half smirk.
Karla was carrying on about something or other and he nodded every once in a while, mumbling a reply. The waiter came and left, bringing back a bottle of wine Karla had ordered. Rafe obediently poured them each a glass.
“I’m going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back,” Karla said, getting to her feet.
Rafe rose, too, waiting until she’d disappeared down the hallway. He’d had an idea. Kind of like the Grinch. He got a wonderful, awful idea.
“Emily Stokes?” he asked.
She’d missed him moving over to her table and gasped in surprise, knocking over her glass. Ice water spilled onto her lap.
“Shit!” She jumped to her feet, swiping her napkin at her shorts.
Ah. There were those legs again. Damn, she looked good. Rafe vividly remembered the feel of those legs against his own before he’d fully woken up and registered anything else.
“Sorry about that,” he said, an undertone of amusement in his apology that, judging by the look she shot him, hadn’t gone over her head.
“It’s fine,” she said briskly. She wasn’t pale anymore. Now her cheeks were stained pink with embarrassment.
“Do you know my daughter?” her father asked.
“My apologies,” Rafe said, smiling and turning on the charm. “I have Emily in one of my classes and thought I’d stop by and tell her congratulations.” He glanced back towards Emily. “I happen to know that she set the curve on the final.”
That certainly distracted her. She gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth as her dark eyes grew larger.
Her father laughed in delight. “Of course, she did! That’s my girl!” He stood up quickly and hugged his daughter. Emily’s eyes grew brighter than usual.
“So, you’re a professor then?” her father asked him as Emily settled back into her chair.
“A grad assistant and working at UM Hospital,” Rafe corrected him. He held out his hand. “Rafe Turner.”
“Lee Stokes,” her father said, shaking his hand. “Do sit down. Join us.”
Emily sucked in a sharp breath, and Rafe had to bite back a grin.
“I’d love to, but I’m with someone. Maybe some other time.” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Karla headed back towards their table. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he said and nodded towards her father.
He turned slightly towards Emily and gave her a wicked grin. “And seeing you again…so soon.”
He leaned down and put his mouth by her ear. Her soft faint floral scent teased his nostrils. The same scent currently still marking his pillow.
“I think you forgot something in my bedroom,” he said softly, so only she could hear. “I rather enjoyed watching you hunt for it.” He stood and gave her another smile, then moved back over to his own table.
Chapter 3
Emily pushed her almost full plate of food aside, no longer able to stomach anything but a few sips of water. She forced her eyes to steer clear of the couple laughing behind her father’s shoulders.
It took everything she had to make it through the rest of the lunch. By the time they walked out of the dining area, Rafe and his lady friend had already left. She had released a sigh of relief when she’d watched them go, but the sinking feeling had continued to sit in the base of her stomach.
She gave her dad a half-truth and claimed she wasn’t feeling well. He drove her back to her apartment in silence. After saying a quick goodbye, she hurried up the stairs.
When she let herself into the apartment, she thought her head might explode with the pressure that had built up from the entire ordeal.
Thankfully, Jamie and Rod were nowhere to be found. Making her way back to her room, she fell face-first into bed.
The scream she released into her pillow was very therapeutic. The kicking and punching, well, they were just for extra release.
“What’s all this for?” Jamie said from her doorway.
Emily glanced up through her messy hair and narrowed her eyes when she saw how perfect Jamie looked in her shorts and gold bikini top. Her long hair was twisted into two messy buns, one of her signature looks. Even her makeup was perfect. Emily could never get her eyes that sexy, even if she tried. At least not without Jamie’s help.
Not wanting to tell her friend about her troubles, she changed tactics.
“Are you heading to the beach?” Emily asked rolling over slightly.
“Yeah, we thought we’d hit the water and enjoy the sun for a while. You should come.” Jamie moved over and sat next to her on the bed. Her hands moved to push Emily’s hair away from her face and before Emily could stop her, she was braiding it. Emily loved having her hair braided or messed with. It was one of the main reasons she went to the salon so often.
Emily twisted when Jamie nudged her shoulder so she could finish the task.
“I’m not up for a trip to the beach,” Emily said finally. Her mind ran through a list of things she wanted to do, but she currently lacked the willpower to follow through on any of them. No, what she wanted to do for the remainder of the day was lie in bed and catch up on some reading. That or watch a few episodes of the shows she’d neglected during the busy semester.
“Oh, come on,” Jamie said. She finished up the braid and tied it off with a small ribbon. Then she took her time fixing a few pieces of her hair. “Go, grab your swimsuit. We’ve made some food to take along with us.”
Emily rolled her eyes at Jamie. “Really, you want me to be your third wheel?”
Jamie chuckled. “No, of course not. I’ve invited a few other friends. We’re having a bonfire later tonight.” Jamie got up and walked over to her closet. “It’s all set.” She opened the closet.
Emily’s eyes traveled down to where Jamie’s dress and the one remaining red shoe lay on the floor of her closet, remembering Rafe’s breath next to her ear as he told her how he’d enjoyed watching her crawl around on his floor. She felt her body react again to the sexy scent and the feeling of him that close to her.
Jumping up, she blocked Jamie’s view from the wrinkled dress and missing shoe and quickly shut the closet behind her. She should have remembered to ask for it when Rafe had come out of his bedroom, but she’d forgotten… everything when he’d looked at her the way he had.
“Go. I’ll get changed and be right out,” she said, a little breathless. There was no way she wanted to explain how she’d lo
st her shoe right now. Besides, maybe the fresh air and warm saltwater would clear that morning’s memories from her head.
Jamie smiled and took her shoulders, then pulled her in close. “Good.” She leaned back. “Wear the little pink bikini and the white sundress with the flowers.”
“Yes, Mom.” Emily rolled her eyes, reaching for her hair.
“No, leave it up.” Jamie stopped her from pulling the hair free. “Put on the sun hat I gave you last month,” she said as she disappeared out the door.
Jamie was going to be the death of her. Keeping up with her for the past two years had not only tested her patience but had stretched it to a fine thread. But she had to admit, there had never been a dull moment.
She pulled off her shorts and top and dug in the bottom of her closet to find the pink swimsuit she’d bought on a whim because Jamie said it made her chest look twice its size. Who could blame her for snatching it up in every color available after that comment? She found the white sundress hanging on the back of her closet door and grabbed the floppy straw hat on her way out.
She was shoved in the back of what she assumed was Rod’s convertible and driven across the bridge towards the beach. It took more time to find a parking spot than to find a spot in the sand along the water’s edge for their towels.
By the time they made their way down to the water, she was actually pumped. She hadn’t had a day on the water for over a month.
She had worked so hard during the past semester that all thoughts of fun had slipped her mind. She had never been the kind of person who could settle for less than perfect on any paper or test she put her name on. Which was reflected in her perfect grades.
Emily hadn’t minded that her private life had suffered. Well, at least not until recently.
Thoughts and images of last night and that morning surfaced in her mind as she spread sunscreen all over her very pale skin. When she glanced over and noticed Jamie’s perfectly tanned and toned body, Emily clenched her back teeth and swore to hit the tanning bed the next time she went into the salon.
She was a little surprised when Jamie’s “friends” ended up being a group of people from their class that they had run into last night at the club. It was nice that she already knew several of them, but still, she lay by herself as the others played in the surf.
Her iPad sat on her bent knees as she squinted through her sunglasses to read the screen in the glaring sunlight.
“Surely there are better things to do on a beach than reading at the beach?” someone said from behind her.
When she glanced up, the sun blinded her for a moment. She reached her hand up to shield her eyes, and her iPad slipped from her slippery sun-screened legs and plopped into the hot sand next to her.
Emily’s eyes traveled up the very tan legs, past the muscular thighs, the extremely sexy six-pack, and lost the rest of her breath when she landed on the pair of blue eyes that she’d been dreaming about all year long.
“Sorry,” he said, squatting down next to her and picking up her sandy iPad.
Glancing around quickly, he sat down next to her on Jamie’s towel. Her breath seemed to be held hostage in her lungs.
“Aren’t you missing someone?” Emily asked after she recovered, using her best nonchalant tone.
His dark eyebrows rose slightly, causing her stomach to do these funny little flips.
“She’s not the type who likes to get sand between her toes.” His eyes traveled down to her feet, where her bright coral toenails were currently covered with grains of sand.
“Her loss,” she said. She reached for her iPad, but he leaned back slightly, keeping it away from her. His arm brushed up against her shoulder, and she bit her bottom lip as her eyes went to his impressive chest. Heat flooded her face.
She still couldn’t believe she’d woken up in a bed with him and Blaine. Sure, she’d been a little drunk. Okay, more than a little. But you wouldn’t think she’d forget getting into bed with two of the hottest men on campus. Even if nothing had happened. Rafe had promised her that was the case, and she trusted him. But even just being naked or half-naked with them without remembering it was embarrassing. Not to mention unfair.
She remembered what she had seen of Rafe and blushed slightly.
Glancing around once more she frowned and stiffened slightly. “Are you following me?” She reached once more for her iPad, but he shifted it out of her reach as his eyes narrowed at the screen.
He chuckled, then his eyes moved up to hers.
“No, just lucky I guess.” He smiled and suddenly she felt very thirsty. She took a swallow from her water bottle.
“Oh?” she asked, trying to get the conversation back under her control.
His eyes met hers, then his smile doubled as he nodded over his shoulder.
When she followed his gaze, she realized that they had parked themselves directly outside of his apartment. Thankfully, she still had her dark shades on, and he couldn’t see her roll her eyes at her own stupidity.
How had she not noticed that when they had parked?
His eyes landed on hers. “So…” He moved closer and she realized he was still holding her iPad. “Is this your intern resume?” He started reading the screen.
She reached out to grab it again, but he pulled it away once more.
“Let me look.” He smiled at her and she felt her entire body respond instantly. She sat silently, fidgeting her hands as he read what she’d spent the past three weeks building.
To say she was nervous would have been a complete understatement. Emily was an absolute wreck as he took his time reading every word that she’d painstakingly worried over. Finally, he set the iPad down and looked at her. Just looked.
“Well?” she finally burst out.
He chuckled, then handed her the iPad. “You should have no problems getting an intern position quickly with that.”
She bit her bottom lip as she glanced over the words describing her history and knowledge.
“I hope so. Actually, I’ve already applied to a couple places.” She glanced over at him.
“So, you’re done with school then?” he asked.
“I still have a year, fine-tuning some more specific skills. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an RN. I suppose some have the desire to continue on to bigger things.” She snapped her iPad cover shut and tucked it into her bag.
“Desire isn’t the word I’d use.” He chuckled and leaned back on the towel. The sand stuck to his tan skin, and she wondered why the grains didn’t melt away.
“What word would you use?” she asked, feeling slightly more relaxed and grateful that the conversation was remaining far away from last night.
“Insanity.” He chuckled and the rich sound melted the rest of her tension. She’d listened to Rafe talk, joke, and laugh for the past few years. The sound was engrained in her memory as pleasing. “Glutton for punishment?” He tucked an arm over his head and rested back on it, then took a deep breath.
“You work at the University of Miami Hospital, right?” she asked.
“I did my ER residency there and stuck around after.” He shifted until his eyes met hers. “Why?”
She shrugged, not wanting to mention that it had been one of the first places she’d applied. “Do you like it there?”
He nodded slightly. “Yeah. I’m hoping to snag a surgical residency soon.”
Her eyebrows rose. “You won’t go into private practice?”
He shook his head. “And leave all the excitement behind?” He smiled. He looked so relaxed, almost like he could fall asleep at any moment. She envied him. Even with as little sleep as she’d gotten last night, she was completely wired at the moment.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked. His head turned towards her slightly and his eyes opened in question. “About me setting the curve on the final?”
He smiled and nodded. “You’ve been the top of the class; do you really doubt yourself?” He shifted until he leaned on his elbow
and looked at her.
She bit her bottom lip to the point of almost breaking skin. “No, it’s just…” She was being stupid. Of course, she doubted herself. Wasn’t that the biggest hang-up she had? She doubted herself in every respect. Jamie was always getting on her case when she doubted her looks. Hell, she wasn’t even confident in her skills as a nurse, and she was practically an RN.
Rafe’s hand snaked out and took hers quickly. “Everyone in class knows how hard you’ve worked all year.” Something changed in his eyes as he shifted back again and closed them. “You deserved a night off.”
All her nerves returned instantly, and her breath hitched. “About last night…”
She was spared from further embarrassment as Jamie and Rod came over.
“Hey,” Jamie said to Rafe without missing a beat. “We’re going to head over to meet the others for food before the bonfire.” Jamie’s eyebrows rose and fell towards Emily. “Why don’t you invite Rafe to come along?”
Emily coughed. More like choked on air.
“Wish I could,” Rafe broke in, glancing down at his watch. “But I’m going on shift in about half an hour.” He rolled up easily until he was off Jamie’s towel, then his eyes met Emily’s. “Good luck hunting.” She felt her face flush remembering his words from the café.
He gave Emily a quick smile and then started walking back towards his place. It took half a minute until Jamie was stabbing her in the side with her very sharp well-manicured fingernail.
“Go,” she hissed. “Give him your number or something.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “What?” She lowered her voice so that Rod couldn’t hear. But he was too busy trying to look impressive for a group of ladies sitting near them. “Want me to jump him right here on the beach?”
“No,” she growled, “but I don’t think he wants this to be the end of it. At least get his number or something.” She reached down and gave her the phone. “So, you can invite him out again.”
“I didn’t invite him…” she started to argue, but Jamie was pushing her towards him.